The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1903-07-22
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN ELOQUENT AND HELPFUL DIS.
COURSE ENTITLED "LOSTAT HOME"
The Rev. F1arcis J. Mcconnell Preaehos
InsIructlveiy Oh the Parable In Lnke,
Which Deals With the Grace of God
Toward The Lost.


Which Deals With the Grace OF God
Toward the Lost.
New YORK CITY.-"Lost At Home was
the subject OF the sermon preached Sunday
evening by the Rev. Francis j. McConEel!
pastor of the New York Avenue NJ. E.
Church. The sermon was based Oh Luke
XIV. Mr.. Mcconnell said:
All the parables of this fifteenth chapter
OF Luke deal with the grace OF COD toward
the lost There Is the story OF sheep, lost,
another oi coin lost.and another OF TWO
sons lost The parable from which the text
of the evening IS taken Is not the parable
of the lost soi: hat the parable OF the lost
sons. A rrea; many OF lis stop at the TWEEN:
ty-fifth verse We rejoice in the sound OF
music and dancing which welcomes home
the prodigal. and prefer that the story
should end with the happiness of the ban
quet The remaining verses, perhaps, seem
to us somewhat out OF Place. The beautiful
narrative is marred by reference to the
ugiiness of the elder brother, but II we
leave the elder brother out of the, parable
we have lost in large part the Master
point. Remember that Jesus IS speaking
of the lost: He is lustifying, Ills dealins
with pubiicans and sinners: These are lost
sheep which have wandered away from the
shepherd; lost CONS which have eiuded the
fingers of the housekeeper and fallen INTO
the cracks: lost sons who have wandered
far from home to spend all in riotous llv.
ing. The parable was spoken IN response
to the murmurs of Pharisees and Scrlbes.
With wonderful eXquisiteness Jesus puts
the Pharisees and Scrihes into the parable.
The elder brother is the Scribe. who can
not understand the love Of the Master tor
Uubicans and sinners. 1t requires but a
moments glance TO see that in the Master 6
thought the Pharisee is lost--lost not IN
open prodigalty ard outbreaking vice, but
lost in false conceptions and false feellng3.
Jesus does not say, indeed, that the fhari'
see is lost. but He implies as much. When
We look at the parable in the light OF the
whole teaching OF Jesus; we can see clearly
the "lostness" of the elder brother.
Possibly it would be well to say jus. a
word about the sense in which the word
lost is here used. Lost" in the gospel
means not that destruction has already
come upon the soul, but that the soul is IN
the grip of forces which, if left to them
selves, will. sooner or later bring disaster.
If the steeple.climber loses his hold the
onlookers cry out Lost" not because the
death-dealing shock has already come. put
because the steeple-climber is in the grasp
of a force which will inevitably bring him
to destruction. If ship falls into the
clutches of an irresistible current running
upon the rocks the watchers upon the
shore cry Lost" At the moment Of the
cry the ship is as staunch as ever: The
"lostness" consists in her being IN the
grasp of force that must, if left to Itself.
bring her to doom. The sheep, out IN the
wilderness had not been killed when the
shepherd found it. 1t, however, was lost
because wandering aimlessly in the pres
ence of danger that must, sooner or later,
bring the end. The coin in the dust was
as good as ever, but in danger of being
swept out upon the rubbish heap, where
it might never be found. The younger son
had not yet lost his life, but his days were
short if they were to be left to the forces
preying upon them. Now, in this sense OF
the word, in the sense of being i'll the grasp
of death-bringing forces. the elder brother
was lost as truly as the younger.
Of course. there may be degrees in lost.
ness" One man may be further from the
right road than another. though any man
off the road is lost. A respectable-lookine
Pharisee certainly does not seem SO bad
as dissolute spendthrift reduced to the
company of swine. But when lostness Is
under consideration, nothing is 40 decep:
tive as outward appearances. Physica!
vices that manifest themselves in outward
signs are no more deadly than some subtle
spiritual vices that work quietly within
Not all vices are rough and boisterous
Again, in the parable before US we may
fail to see the lostness of the elder brother
because he remained at home. We are very
apt to think of lostness as spatial. The
younger son was in far country. and
whether we realize 1t or not, something oi
our thought OF his lostness has to do with
his geographical position. The elder sor
was at home and, therefore, safe; but the
lostness of the parable has very little tc
d6with spatial relations. The father could
ing chains upon him and keeping him al
home. The son was already far away
when he c,asped his fathers hand to say
goodby. Nearness in spiritual sense il
not at all matter of physical distance
The son who remained at home was in. a
spiritual sense as truly lost as the son who
wandered into the far country. Spiritual
lostness consists in false ways of looking
at and feeling about spiritual things.
1t may be that some will object that the
Pharisees were particular class of people
living at particular date in the worlds
history; that they have long since passed
on, carrying all their frailties with them
OF what use to speak of Pharsees to-day!
1t must be responded that this view ii
wholly superfcia.-th Jesus spoke for all
ages; that in Pharsaisn were certain fun
damental traits that appear over and over
again. Pharisaism is not yet dead; the
name is changed, but the characteristics
reappear. Few men are far enough beyond
Pharisaism to make a protest agalnst the
discussion of the lostness of Pharisaisn
especially relevant.
F,st &c all tbo o1,,. ho,,o ,,,, la,1 -
his thought of himself. "Lo, these many
years do 1 serve thee" The word Serve
is not at all accidental; it is a very essen
,tial part of the picture; it strikes at ont
deep faults Of Pharisaism-the inability o1
the Pharisee to rise above the idea of ser
vantship in his thought of mans relation
to God. The elder brother did not take
himself az son, but as a servant. anC
therefore was lost in his thought of him
SELF After the prodigal among the swine
came to himself he said, IT am no more
worthy to be called thy son; make me a:
one of thy hired servants" The prodiga
thought of himself as lost forever to son
ship and hoped only for stewardship; and
yet the great redeeming fact ii the reck
less sinners case was that he had come te
ship. Upon chat fact the father restored
him. The prodigal had learned something
in his disgrace. He had learned to think
of himself as one who had sinned against
sonship. With that lesson there followed
II will arise and 20 to my father" So faI
as this essential realization of sonship was
concerned the elder brother was as lost a.
the wanderer who had gone to the fal
country.
Looking at the parable in the light of it,
eternal spiritual significance, this must be
said, the man who strives to serve Goo
as a servant and not as son is lost MOI
that he is a villain or given to outbreakint
transgression, but so long as he merely
serves God he is lost to all joy for hmsel
and is a dead loss to God. | say lost t.
joy, bo,ause there is no Joy in, merely
serving God-that is. if we take the work
seriously. Il We look upon God as grea
taskmaster, great lord over servants, W.