The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-07-13
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE ENTITLED.
"cHRlST'S GIFT OF LIFE"
The Rev. George r. Lunn breaches From
q Text Which He Declares Shows In
Compact Form the Predominant Aim
of Jesu-The Larger Life.S

Compact Form the Predominant Aim
of Jesus-The Larger Life
BRooKLTN, N. Y.-Sunday night, in the
Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Churcs,
the Rev. George R. Lunn, assistant pss.
tor, preached on "Christ's Gift of Life
The text was taken from John x:l0: "
am come that they might have life" MI.
lunn said:
l am sure that I do not exaggerate when
I say that no words of our Lord are more
profoundly significant than these words of
the text. we have in a compact form a
statement of the purpose of Jesus Christ.
All else is su~bord:nated to this great and
predominant am. Jesus Christ has come
into the world to give that life in ever in
c~reasing abundance. This is not a conclu-
sion Of mine worked out after special in
vestigation; it is the simple and clear and
forceful statement OF our Lord Himself. l
rest upon His word as a finality. And l
find in this verse a fuller and richer e1-
preston of the purpose of Christ than is
found anywhere else in Scripture, .,
What, then, is the life which Christ
with God, the Father; a fellowship begun
on earth and continued throughout the
ages of eternity. 1t is the life of spiritual
oneness with God, united to Him IN
thought, in purpose, in all our varying ac-
Invites. 1t is the larger life which COM
prehends our present life, enriching it with
all the holy purposes of God, our Saviour,
lifting us by it's power into the purified at
mosphere Of noble deeds, done for His
sake. In other words, it is the life of
which our Master spoke when He said that
to lose it was a calamity, even though a
man should gain the whole world.
I think / am right in saying that a great
many people interpret the words and work
OF our Lord as applying chiefly to the other
world, not altogether, but chiefly. They
ance of safety for the next world rather
than a definite program of activity for the
present. They think more of the saving
of the soul after death than of saving the
life before death. No. stronger illustration
of this thought can be found than the
large numbers Of men who delay their de-
cision in reference to Christ to some more
convenient season. They say, not now,
but at some future time, I will settle the
great question of my souls relation to
God. You cannot find a man who will not
express some wish to lead a better life;
but in nearly every case they see no need
of an immediate decision. In my pastoral
work I have come in contact with this ex-
peIleICS tlule anu again. Anu dS = nave
endeavored to understand what is the IN
DERIVING cause of SO much indecision re-
garding religious things, l find that most
of it can be traced to this fundamental
misinterpretation Of the words and work
of Jesus Christ our Lord. You may ex-
press this in many ways, but at heart the
point is this-the saving of the soul after
death, instead of saving the life right here
and now; the gaining of heaven hereafter,
rather than entering into heaven now.
And because of this Interpretation mel
feel no immediate necessity of getting
right with God. So long as they are rea-
sonably sure of life here, they are willing
to delay the great decision of the soul.
Against this view of religion allow me to
bring the message of the Saviour, II am
come that they might have life and that
they might have it more abundantlyI" You
cannot read the gospels without coming
into contact with this purpose of Christ at
every turn. Repeatedly do you find the
word life. We are struck with the fact
how constantly the word life was on the
lips of Jesus. 1t is a word which gives US
the very heart of Jesus teaching. He was
always praising, always promising life. IF
thou wilt enter into life keep Ny COM
mandments," He that believeth on Me
hath life" Gas the Father hath life in
Himself, so hath He given to the Son to
have life in Himself" Because I live ye
shall live also" eye will not come unto
Me that We might have life" Everywhere
we find this same eager pleading with men
to enter into life, and we further find that
Jesus life consisted in goodness. Wicked
ness is death. "The soul that sinneth, it
shall die" is not so much a threat as the
statement of a great truth. For the sin
ming soul dies by reason of the very fact of
its shining. There is no hte for the hui
man soul but in righteousness. Jesus,
therefore, uses language which we may
justly call violent when He referred to the
possibility of a mans losing his higher
life. Better to cut off the offending hand
or foot if it binders the aspiring soul.
Better to pluck out the eye which causes
stumbling if by that Leans the real life of
God may be gained. I have called this
language violent, and SUCH it is. Not that
Jesus anticipated any literal interpreta.
ton and literal following. The forceful
and an eternal truth. The very possibility
of a mans failing to enter into the life of
fellowship with God, was a thought which
brought strong tears to the eyes of the Sa-
viour of men. I tell you that in these days
we are harboring in our hearts a senti-
mental sympathy which overlooks sin and
condones iniquity and seeks to apologize
for the stern words of the Saviour. There
was no doubt a ringing doom against sin.
But it was not the doom of a threat.
Jesus never threatened. He revealed
what sin is; its very nature is death. The
open door OF life in God is before men.
TO pass by that door does not mean that
God will arbitrarily punish, but that the
very passing it by is death. The issue of
sin is doom, exile into the night, the
eclipse of desolation and abandonment.
Does there move in your hearts the sus-
overdone? When that suspicion comes to
me, and it often comes. l remember the
words of a sainted preacher: when l am
tempted to think that the doom is over
done, l must remember that the Son OF
God, my Saviour, with an infinite insight
into all things, superlatively sensitive,
knowing the Utmost heart of life, He, our
Saviour, pronounced the doom to be just.
This Christ, who gave, Himself for us, who
loved us, told us in words-l venture to
say loving words, of appalling terror-that
for the deliberately sinful, and for the de-
liberately unjust, there is no place but the
night, no place but the outer darkness. no
place but ultimate separateness, no place
but ultimate forsakenness and abandon
ment. These are my Masters words, and
against them I will rear no petty magma
ton of my own; I will rather silence my
own u%nillulnined suspicion and humbly and
quietly take my place with Him. The
wages of sin is the night" 1t is the night
now; it is the night hereafter. The es-
sence of sin is death; it is exile; it is aban-
donment. Jesus words were violent, but
He was not seeking to produce fear, but
to reveal fact.
Now to all of us who feel this fact so
keenly Jesus brings His ~evangel of forgive
ness and peace. The words spoken so long
ago have their greatest significance now,
for we can see, as those Jews could not see,
their fuller and more profound meaning. 1
A. H. cno1.o &C tla Eotbar IN croh inf.