00:00:00.000 - 00:00:36.920

The following message for the moment is delivered by the Reverend Dr. Bruce Wheeler-Thielman. Today's sermon is entitled "Make Peace with Yourself." Let us continue in our worship by giving reverent attention to the reading of God's Word as it is recorded in the first book of Samuel, portions of the 18th, 19th, and 20th chapters. I begin

00:00:36.920 - 00:01:10.960

at chapter 18, verse 1. "When he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. And Saul took him that day and would not let him return to his father's house. Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul. And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave

00:01:10.960 - 00:01:44.200

it to David, and his armor, and even his sword, and his bow, and his girdle. And David went out and was successful wherever Saul sent him, so that Saul set him over the men of war. And this was good in the sight of all the people, and also in the sight of Saul's servants. As they were coming home, when David returned from slaying the Philistine, the women came out of all the cities

00:01:44.200 - 00:02:18.560

of Israel singing and dancing, to meet King Saul with timbrels, with songs of joy, and with instruments of music. And the women sang to one another as they made merry, 'Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.' And Saul was very angry, and this saying displeased him. He said, 'They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed thousands,

00:02:18.560 - 00:02:51.080

and what more can he have but the kingdom?' And Saul eyed David from that day on." Moving over to the 19th chapter, beginning at the 8th verse, "And there was war again, and David went out and fought with the Philistine, and made a great slaughter among them, so that they fled before him. Then an evil spirit from the Lord came upon Saul as he sat in his

00:02:51.080 - 00:03:26.800

house with his spear in his hand, and David was playing the liar. And Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he eluded Saul so that he struck the spear into the wall, and David fled and escaped. That night Saul sent messengers to David's house to watch him, that he might kill him in the morning. But Michael, David's wife, told him, 'If you do not

00:03:26.800 - 00:04:00.600

save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.' So Michael let David down through the window, and he fled away and escaped. Michael took an image and laid it on the bed, and put a pillow of goat's hair at its head, and covered it with the clothes. And when Saul sent messengers to David, she said, 'He is sick.'" And then in chapter 20, beginning at verse 30, "Then Saul's

00:04:00.600 - 00:04:30.840

anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said to him, 'You son of a perverse, rebellious woman, do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame, and to the shame of your mother's nakedness? For as long as the son of Jesse lives upon the earth, neither you nor your kingdom shall be established. Therefore send and fetch him to me, for he shall surely die.'

00:04:30.840 - 00:05:18.440

Then Jonathan answered Saul, his father, 'Why should he be put to death? What has he done?' But Saul cast his spear at him to smite him. So Jonathan knew that his father was determined to put David to death." And may God bless to us and to our understanding these readings from his word. Pray with me. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

00:05:18.440 - 00:05:59.480

I think it's safe to say that we are all seeking inner peace, and I would suggest this morning that we can find counsel in our search by looking at the collapse of Saul, the first king of Israel. As we see how he fell apart, we might learn better how to keep ourselves together. Personal peace rests ultimately on this foundation, this good news, that God is in charge of all of

00:05:59.480 - 00:06:33.680

life. Right outside the back door of my mother's home there is a clump of lilies, and in the springtime every year they bloom and are glorious to behold. Now sometime in the future, no one knows how long in the future, in some great big building that is crowded with laboratories and very exotic equipment, where there are many scientists working in white coats, laboring

00:06:33.680 - 00:07:04.960

day after day, they will produce at some point in the future the first life that humankind has ever brought into existence. I suppose it will be nothing more than a single blade of grass. And when that happens, there will be headlines in all of the newspapers, and there will be television specials on the subject, and the Nobel Prize for Science will no doubt be awarded to

00:07:04.960 - 00:07:42.320

the ones who contributed most to this great discovery. And all this time, all this time before this discovery and during it and after it, God will be taking earth, air, sun, and water by my mother's back door and turning it into lilies. It is a grand thing to know that God is in charge of all the flora and the fauna of this planet, that he is in fact in complete command of the

00:07:42.320 - 00:08:19.680

entire material universe. But more than that, God is in control of history, the adventure which we call the human story. Some of you will recognize the name of Russell Conwell. He came from Massachusetts. He was an atheist. He led a group of troops in the Civil War called the Berkshire Boys, and they were quite successful in their various battles with the rebels. But

00:08:19.680 - 00:08:49.120

on one occasion, they charged across a bridge which was over a small river, and the force of Confederates on the other side of the bridge was much larger than they had anticipated. So they beat a hasty retreat, and as they were retreating, the bridge was set afire. Now, when Conwell, the commanding officer, got back to the Yankee side of the line,

00:08:49.120 - 00:09:22.240

he noticed that he had dropped his sword on the other side where the Confederates were, and he lamented that this was so, whereupon one of his young soldiers, a boy named Johnny Ring, immediately ran across the bridge, found the sword, picked it up, ran back across the bridge, which now was in full flame, and he was horribly burned as he ran, a feat so heroic that the

00:09:22.240 - 00:09:56.400

rebels did not even shoot at him. They admired so much the courage of this young man. And he brought the sword, and he dropped it at the feet of his commander, Russell Conwell. And then he fell to the ground. And Conwell knelt beside him and said, "Oh, Johnny, I am so sorry. I am so very sorry." And the young boy looked up at the older colonel and said, "Sir, you do not have to

00:09:56.400 - 00:10:37.920

be sorry. I am not sorry, for Jesus Christ is my Lord." And then, as he breathed his last gasp, Johnny Ring said to Russell Conwell, "Sir, do you know Jesus as Lord?" That night in his tent, Russell Conwell got to his knees and committed himself to the service of Jesus Christ. And he made a solemn vow, which he reported later, that he had promised God that

00:10:37.920 - 00:11:09.680

he would, throughout the course of the rest of his days, work 16 hours every day, eight hours for himself in the service of Christ, and eight hours for Johnny Ring in the service of Christ. He would live two lives, both dedicated to the service of his Lord. Russell Conwell went on to become a Baptist clergyman, the founder of the great Baptist

00:11:09.680 - 00:11:42.400

temple in Philadelphia. His sermon, "Acres of Diamonds," was preached more than 6,000 times across this country. And the money which he raised from the preaching of that great message was used by him to found Temple University in Philadelphia. And he also began, at that same time, the Conwell School of Theology, which later merged with the Gordon School of Theology to make the

00:11:42.400 - 00:12:12.000

Gordon Conwell Seminary that we know today. The point of all of this is that out of the tragedy of the Civil War and out of the desperately sad death of this fine and dedicated young man, God brought to knowledge thousands through that great university, and brought to faith thousands through the ministry of Russell Conwell and those who were trained in the seminary that

00:12:12.000 - 00:12:47.200

carried his name. You see, whether you're talking about lilies or history, whether you're talking about matters material or matters spiritual, the good news is that God is in charge, and there's great peace in recognizing that. Now, if this is true, that God is in charge, then it seems to me that we are obligated to be very grateful when we discover the gifts of God

00:12:47.200 - 00:13:21.520

in other people. If he is in charge, then he places what gifts he wants in what individuals he wants to be used in his service. And we should be rejoicing in whatever choices that he makes, whatever plans he is working out in the fabric of our days. And it was just at this point that King Saul began the collapse of his character. You see, in the first place, Saul

00:13:21.520 - 00:13:47.120

was not quite sure that God was in charge. You will remember two weeks ago when we studied the call of Saul to be king, Saul said no, and he went and hid himself amongst the baggage to try to avoid being crowned as king. Now, had he really been committed to obedience to God and to following the directions of the divine, had he really believed

00:13:47.120 - 00:14:18.080

that God was moving in history and was going to move through him, he would have yielded immediately to God's command given to him through the lips of the prophet Samuel. But Saul didn't do this. He wasn't sure that God was in charge. And this failure to recognize the sovereignty of God in all of life led Saul to be resentful of those individuals

00:14:18.080 - 00:14:43.040

into whose lives God had placed special gifts and abilities. You see this immediately in Saul's relationship to David. After David killed Goliath, Saul should have been delighted in the victory, absolutely thrilled that God had sent into their midst this young man who was not only loyal to

00:14:43.040 - 00:15:10.640

God and fought under the flag of faith, but who was also loyal to his king, to Saul himself. But what happened? As they were returning from the battlefield, the women came out of the towns and began to sing a song, "Saul has slain his thousands and David has slain his ten thousands." And as soon as Saul heard that,

00:15:10.640 - 00:15:38.800

jealousy and envy grew up within him. And he ceased being happy for David and happy that God's providence was being worked out through David, and instead began to resent David and what God was doing through David's life. Saul's son, Jonathan, went on to become a very good friend of David's. And you would think

00:15:38.800 - 00:16:03.040

that Saul would have rejoiced in this. After all, to have your son be a friend of the one whom the scriptures described as being a man after God's own heart is no small thing. But Saul tried again and again to break this relationship between Jonathan and David. David was married to Michael, Saul's daughter, and you would have thought

00:16:03.040 - 00:16:36.160

that Saul would have been delighted to have had such a son-in-law, one given over to the praise of God and to loyalty to the king. But no, he resented all of this. And unfortunately, there are still those today who resent the plans of God and the blessings of God as they see them lived out in the lives of other people. There was a time, and most of you

00:16:36.160 - 00:17:09.280

remember it, when denominations resented one another's success. Each one of them, thinking that they had a corner on God, did not like to see any false faiths win anyone to the Lord Jesus. I stopped thinking like that myself when I heard about a restaurant down in Jackson, Mississippi, which had a public dining room on the first floor and two private dining rooms on the second floor.

00:17:10.560 - 00:17:42.800

And one day each month, the local ministerial association had breakfast in one of those rooms, and the local Elks Club had a morning meeting of its board of directors in the other private room at the same time. Now, one day, both groups happened to order watermelon as part of their breakfast. Only the Elks asked that their watermelon be soaked in whiskey before it was

00:17:42.800 - 00:18:12.080

brought in. And in the process of delivering the watermelon to the two rooms, the order became confused so that the ministers got the watermelon, which had been sweetened with whiskey, and the Elks got the regular watermelon. Well, as soon as the error was discovered, a waiter rushed to the room where the ministers were. And as soon as he came through the door,

00:18:12.080 - 00:18:31.760

the Methodists began to ask him for the recipe, the Baptists asked if they could have seconds, the Episcopalians were busy chewing on the rinds of the watermelon, and the Presbyterians were down on their knees collecting the seeds. [laughter]

00:18:31.760 - 00:19:06.000

There is, you see, in all faiths, much that is the same. Oh, our ritual, our emphasis might be different, but that diversity is good. It allows us to select that expression of faith which enables us best to praise God. But in order to understand other faiths and to be encouraged when they succeed and to rejoice in God's victory through them, one must understand that God is in charge

00:19:06.000 - 00:19:36.480

of all things, and that he does move through others, and that when he does move through others, we should be thrilled with the positivity of his acts. Understanding that God is in charge should lead us to respect his every decision, even as it means the blessing of others. And more than respect it, we are to love those who carry out his will.

00:19:36.480 - 00:20:19.040

But Saul did not do that. Instead, Saul became filled with resentment and envy. Now, envy leads inevitably to inner friction and frustration and to the loss of personal peace. Dante, in his great allegory, The Inferno, says that all the envious people who are in hell go about with their eyelids sewn shut. And by this, he is saying allegorically

00:20:20.240 - 00:20:54.800

that envy blinds people so that they cannot see the God and the good in other people. Now, Saul's refusal to be loyal to the royal in himself when he was called of God to assume the kingship showed his rejection of God's sovereignty. But now, his resentment of the response of others to the authority of God, to the faith practiced by others, that resentment leads to the collapse

00:20:54.800 - 00:21:34.880

of his character. He so rejects David that he tries to spear him. He so rejects Jonathan that he tries to spear him. Saul literally drives his own children away because both Jonathan and Michael later are involved in helping David escape from their father's clutches. Saul is reduced in this pathetic state to a kind of sobbing sovereign,

00:21:36.160 - 00:22:13.360

kneeling on the ground in self-pity, unloving, and therefore unloved. And what he cries out from his knees is one of the saddest cries in all of scripture. It is our text for this morning. He says, "All have conspired against me. No one discloses to me when my son joins with the forces of David. No one is sorry for me. No one helps me against conspirators."

00:22:13.360 - 00:22:49.520

Here's a king on his knees, torn apart inside, tears through eyelids sewn shut, reduced to a kind of pathetic impotence. Paul wrote to the Galatians that the sin of envy could separate one forever from the kingdom of heaven. And we not only see that happening to Saul here, but we also see him beginning to be separated

00:22:49.520 - 00:23:22.880

from his kingdom on earth. Shrek, who has written the most massive study on envy, which I know of, says in it that envy is one of the most destructive of all of the human emotions. I would go beyond that and say that envy is the most awful of all human emotions in terms of the way in which it destroys inner peace and robs one of satisfaction.

00:23:22.880 - 00:23:57.120

Many people are ruined by this kind of envy. Not long ago, I came across a set of the rules which were used by the Wells Fargo Company in its stagecoaches back in the days of the early West. There were five rules that were given to all passengers. Rule one was you could bring no liquor into the stagecoach unless you were willing to share the bottle. Rule two was you couldn't

00:23:57.120 - 00:24:28.400

hog the buffalo robes in cold weather, and if you did, you'd be made to ride up on the top with the driver. Rule three was that you couldn't snore loudly and you could not lean against other people when you fell asleep. Rule four was that you could not discuss stagecoach robberies or Indian raids when there were any women present in the stagecoach. And it was the fifth rule that attracted

00:24:28.400 - 00:25:13.840

me the most, for it said there was no smoking, but that tobacco could be chewed as long as the one chewing it would spit with the wind and not against it. Envy is that which leads a person to hurl himself against the winds of the will of God, to splatter his self-esteem, to crack his character, and to blow his hopes away. And under such circumstances, inner peace is lost.

00:25:17.600 - 00:25:49.440

My friends, if all of this is true, then it becomes very obvious that there are two things we must do if we are going to know peace within ourselves. The first of those things is we must not lament the things which we are not. Dr. Carl Menninger, the great psychiatrist, has said that attitude is more important than reality,

00:25:49.440 - 00:26:18.720

and that is absolutely true. How we feel about something is more important than the thing in itself. Remember, there are only two characters who come out of this story who look good. One of them is David, who, though he was chased by Saul across the course of many months, and had several times the opportunity to kill Saul, but deliberately refused to do so.

00:26:18.720 - 00:26:54.480

This David, who yelled out to Saul on one occasion, "Why is it that you, the noblest of all creatures, come after myself, a mere flea?" This David, who sees Saul as the anointed king, and accepts that and rejoices in it, and does not lament the fact that he is not the king, this David honors the good and the blessing which he sees in others. The other person to come

00:26:54.480 - 00:27:25.920

through the story with good character is Jonathan, because at one point Saul takes Jonathan aside, and he says to him, "Boy, pay attention to what I'm saying. If you don't break off your friendship with David, then his popularity is going to continue to grow, and when the time comes for a new king to be selected, it won't be you, my eldest son, and heir apparent. It will be David."

00:27:27.600 - 00:28:08.560

But you see, there was nothing in Jonathan which led him to lament the fact that he did not have the gifts that David had. Jonathan saw David as more qualified to be king than he was, and so he rejoiced in all of David's successes. These two, you see, show that when someone has what we don't, we must not allow that to fill us with ingratitude and envy. Instead of that,

00:28:08.560 - 00:28:36.320

we must rejoice in the blessings which belong to that other personality. The apostle Paul tells us that those who are part of the family of God are like the parts of a body, and all the parts of a body are important to its total functioning. But not all parts of the body are of equal value.

00:28:36.320 - 00:29:10.240

Which would you choose to lose if you had to choose one or the other, your little toe or your right arm? Well, just so there are people in the body of Christ, the church, in the family of God the Father, there are people who are more richly gifted than others. And we need to rejoice in this, to adjust to our limitations, and to find thrill in God's plan.

00:29:10.240 - 00:29:46.160

Inner peace comes in part from refusing to lament over the victories in the name of God that others, through their faith, win for their Father. And the other principle to bear in mind is that we must seek to develop to the utmost all of the gifts which God has given to us. None of us has everything, but all of us has something. And inner peace in part comes

00:29:46.880 - 00:30:13.040

when we make the most of what we have been given by God. I suggest to people that they make a list of their abilities and strengths and gifts. They should make it over the course of a few weeks. Don't make this a snap list. Talk to some of your friends. They will be willing to identify your strong points. Don't hesitate to change the list if you change your mind across the course

00:30:13.040 - 00:30:46.960

of the weeks. And then when you've made this list, summarize it and memorize it. And then when any feelings of self-pity or envy come into your life, review this list. And remember as you review it that God has given each of us enough power, enough of himself, to play the part that it is his intention for us to play in this drama which we call history.

00:30:46.960 - 00:31:32.240

And we ought to say to ourselves ten times every day, "If God be for me, who can be against me?" God gives to each of us, no matter whether we have many gifts or few, conspicuous ones or secret ones, God gives to every one of us all the power we need to have to be what he wants us to be. Believe this. Believe it with all your heart and commit yourself to it. Back in 1956,

00:31:33.040 - 00:31:50.800

I was doing graduate study in Scotland. And it was Christmas time and I was lonely, my first Christmas away from home, let alone in a foreign land. And I decided I would go to Switzerland for winter sports. So I took the train down to Edinburgh and there was a four-hour wait for the next train which went to London,

00:31:50.800 - 00:32:13.520

and then the coast train and then crossing the Channel. So during that four-hour wait, I walked over to the Scottish National Gallery, which is located just about two blocks from the Waverley Station in Edinburgh. And I was delighted when I got there to see that they had a major show of the works of Grandma Moses. You'll remember Grandma Moses. She was that Pennsylvania lady

00:32:13.520 - 00:32:39.120

who didn't begin painting until she was over 80 years of age. But when she did begin, she produced some of the finest primitive American painting that has ever been seen. Her accomplishments were remarkable. And I really enjoyed looking at her pictures. My favorite was one called Sugaring Off, which is where they were taking the maple juice out of the sap,

00:32:39.120 - 00:33:02.240

out of the maple trees to make the syrup. Many of her pictures had to do with Christmas and the very season of the year in which we were because she painted her memories. And of course, those days stand out in our memories. Now, as I was leaving the museum, there was on the wall a letter from Grandma Moses within a frame. And in it, she said that she was very glad that her

00:33:02.240 - 00:33:25.680

pictures were being shown in Scotland. And at the top of the letter was her address on her letterhead. And I copied that down. And I went over to the station, to the little post office there, and I bought an air letter. And I addressed it to Grandma Moses. And I sent it off to her. And I said, "I'm a young American, abroad for the first time, doing graduate study in Scotland, preparing

00:33:25.680 - 00:33:57.760

for the ministry. I was very lonely, but just looking at your pictures made me feel wonderful. Thank you so very much." And I dropped the letter in the box and went off to the land of many mountains. Three weeks later, when I got back, I was astonished to discover amongst my letters a letter from Grandma Moses. And in this letter, which was typed by someone else but signed by her,

00:33:57.760 - 00:34:31.280

she wrote, "Thank you for your letter. I am glad that you enjoyed my pictures. I am glad that you had the opportunity to study in Scotland. You have discovered what God's plan for you is, and you are working hard to bring it to pass. I'm glad it didn't take you as long to discover your gifts as it took me." Remember, she didn't start painting until she was over 80.

00:34:31.280 - 00:35:05.920

"I hope the enclosed picture will bring you some pleasure." And in the envelope was a small reproduction of "Sugaring Off," the painting I had so much enjoyed. Whenever I think of that woman, I think of one who was much more than an artist with a paintbrush working on canvas. She was also an artist with words, and she painted on my heart a memory which thrills me every time

00:35:05.920 - 00:35:37.360

I think back to it. And did you get the message? What she was saying was, "No matter who you are, you are gifted of God, and it is never too late, even when you're past 80, it is never too late to begin to develop those gifts. But the sooner you do it, the better." When we rejoice that God is in charge, when our souls thrill as we see God working through other

00:35:37.360 - 00:36:12.720

people, and in dedicated discipleship, when we seek to use our gifts to his honor and glory in every way that we can, when those things are done, then negative emotions like selfishness and envy are driven out, and they are replaced instead with positive assertions that call us more and more to pursuing the royal in ourselves, to be loyal to that royalty.

00:36:12.720 - 00:36:42.400

And when that happens, my brothers and sisters, there grows up within the heart a deep peace, indeed, that very peace of which Jesus spoke when he said that it is beyond ultimately our understanding. Pray with me.

00:36:49.120 - 00:37:23.360

O God, our Father, bless, I pray, the offering of these words. Send them where thou dost know they should go. May they find place in hearts where thou wouldst have them find place. And may they, heated and lived, bring the peace that passes all understanding

00:37:23.360 - 00:37:56.400

to those who right now know inside themselves only sadness, envy, despair, jealousy, and defeat. We pray our prayer in Jesus' name. Amen.