Los Angeles herald., 1908-01-13
ANNIVERSARY TEXT
"LAW OF SERVICE
REV. (. J. HARPER DELIVERS AN
IMPRESSIVE SERMON
Eleventh Year of Knox Presbyterian
Church Marked by Special Ser
vices-Spirit of Sacrifice
Analysed

@NNFa
tor, preached an anniversary sermon at
the morning service, as fallows;
Christ said that love was the full
fillment of the law, and he gives this
new commandment as the highest ex-
preston of the law of God. This law,
which is fundamental. finds its manifes-
tation In three laws, which may be called
the social laws of Jesus.
Il. The law of service-This law in
cludes both the spiritual and natural
world. In nature there is an unconscious
service, hence no moral attribute is at
tached. There is service of some sort
wherever there is human association. The
old Roman civilization was based on the
compulsory service of the SAFE; our
civilization is based on the cora 2ensated
service of the employee.
"In each service is the basis and we
can have no civilization without service.
This principle of service Christ took hold
OF and ennobled and made 1t one of the
laws of the kingdom of God. In service
he became the supreme example. He said
I am among you as one that serveth.'
THE Son of Man came not to be minis
tered unto but to minister. AS my
Father hath sent me into the world, even
so I send you
LAS he came to minister he sent his
picture Of the Judgment men are COM
mended or condemned accordingly as
they ministered or failed to serve.
ChrIst's View of Service
"Christ did not look upon service as a
disagreeable necessity which must be
endured nor did he teach that it was to
be rendered for compensation, but it was
to be regarded as a privilege.
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let him be your servant This makes the
law of service, not incidental, but fun
damental
There is a marked difference between
commercial service and Christian SER
vice. fundamental law of commerce
is supply and demand, and another is
exchange-value for value. The essential
thing is the act or the article which is
offered for exchange. But Christ fixes
the attention not on the act but on the
motive back of the act.
Commercial service aims to supply the
demand; Christian service aims to meet
the need. The former may be selfish, but
the latter is unselfish.
Life as a Trust
Christ teaches that our substance,
time. powers, opportunities are all given
us for service.
Life is a sacred trust. 1t has come
to us from the treasured past with store
garnered from each generation. What this
treasure cost cannot be reckoned. This
treasure is all that is contained in the
wonderful word heredity. We are trus-
tees for the future and we are bound to
hand to our descendants the legacy en-
riched. Such service implies self-abne-
cation.
80 The law of sacrifice-This includes
the entire man. IF any man will come
after me let him deny himself and take
up his cross daily and follow me-
1.-THE prize fighter the commercial man
seeking wealth, the student seeking for
knowledge or art deny themselves, but
their denial is not Christian. 1t is simply
denial of one part of himself that an
other part may gain, and 1t is selfish in
its motives. He has not denied himself.
'Tt is the death OF the self will that
Christ demands. He must accept the
cross. We talk about crosses; Christ and
the New Testament never use the plural;
it is always the cross And it means
death. Take the cross and follow me-
means follow to Golgothia.
Self Must Perish
at is only as man dies to self that he
enters the kingdom Of God. Only when
self is surrendered Is sin surrendered.
You may give up many sins without CIV
ing up sin. Giving up sins means new
habits; giving up sin means new life.
One is reformation, the other is regen-
Grafton.
at is the will that determines charac-
ter; so only as the will is surrendered is
the self surrendered A man may give
his millions and not give himself, but
the gift without the glver is bare
am Gacrifipa a in serVica fbe essential
thing is not the act but the spirit. The
spirit of sacrifice gives all and longs
to give more. It was this that made the
worth of the Widows mite greater than
the bars of gold that ti.e bankers cast
into the treasury.
"Consecration of substance does not
mean getting rid of all substance any
more than the conservation of life means
getting rid of life, but it does mean the
devoting of ones substance to the SER
vice of the kingdom. All claim to own
ership is renowned and we become stew
ards for our Lord
Law Not Arbitrary
"rhis law of sacrifice is in no sense
arbitrary, but is in harmony with the
universe of God. The oneness of the uni
verse is perfect, but there Is no moral
beauty in this obedience. Suns cannot
dsobey.
so God created wills. There can be no
moral beauty without the obedience of
Wills that are free to disobey Thus
with the possibility of moral beauty there
came the possibility of moral discord, in
troduced by self will If thousand men
live for themselves they have thou
sand centers, a thousand conflicting I'm
terests, and each life moves to it's own
center and away from all others.
'"Thus selfshness is a disintegrating
force in life and the cause of Giscord.
Only when selfishness-self will-has been
surrendered, and these thousand wills
are centered in the same object. can
there be perfect organization.
A High PrerogatIve
'It means high and noble prerogative
and sacrifice When one is in this glad
harmony with the laws of his own being
and of the universe he receives accord
ing to his ability; receives food that he
may give strength; receives knowledge
that he may give power.
EVERY man is daily made the worlds
debtor by a thousand ministrations of his
fellows about him and by the ranks of
nature below him. If he receives only
that he may enjoy and not to give, if he
appropriates all and uses for himself in
stead of Transforming all into noble SER
vice and sacrifice for the common good
consumes them all on his mean little
self-then he dies pauper, in debt to
the universe, even though he be called
a millionaire.
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