Jackson County journal., 1918-09-13

||@@s@s@A - the German ka'-
ser is more con-
cerned on having the Lord on his
side than about being on the Lords
side.
The natural tendency of man is to
seek his own or the things of human
1ty, rather than the things of the Lord,
and man is simply asking what some
particular course will bring to him, or
what it will bring to his time. The
chief end of man in these days.i is not
to glorify God. In this, grievous wrong
is done. When a course of action is
before one, the chief question should
not be, "How will it affect me?' nor,
indeed, "How will it affect my neigh
bor?' but "How will it affect God?"
The great need Of the day is a new
sensing of God-God at the beginning,
God in the middle, God at the ending
The right thing for man is to ask
where God is, and to go where he is.
If man would do that many of his
great theological questions would be
settled. God manifests himself
through his Word, and if men would
60 to the Word of God with these
questions they would soon be substan-
TALLY correct on all Of them.
The text suggests the question, "Who
is on the Lords side?' or rather,
What man or woman has a right to
say that he is on the Lords side?"
In the particular case before us, the
0o1f md
were worshiping it. To do that was
to break the first two commandments
of the DecalOgue, and it became open
idolatry. It is inevitable that man
worship. If he does not worship God
he will worship some thing, or some
one else. Nor can 8 man be on the
Lords side if he does those things that
the Lord hates.
If man would know his duty to the
Lord he should seek to know what the
Lord thinks of certain things, and here
again he must take the Lords judg-
ment through his Word, for he cannot
know what the Lord thinks unless he
knows his Word. AS to particular ac-
tiOns, a man may be left to his own
judgment, but as to the great princi-
pies that lie at the root of things, the
Lord makes clear declaration in his
Word. Does the Lord love liar, bru-
tality, deception? The remnant of
Gods image in man says at once, mo
MOI" Does the Lord favor truth, lib
erty, kindness? That same remnant
of Gods image says, Eyes Yes!" And
consequently, the duty is clear, and he
should stand for these things. We
might sum up everything by saying
''Ye cannot serve God and mammon."
The scene connected with our text
was probably this: There was
a golden calf and people were
dancing about it. Moses stood aloo1
and made the cry, "Whoso is on tho
Lords side, let him come to me-" Ac
cording to the constitution and nature
of man we make appeals to him as tt
his conscience, to his sense of duty o.
privilege, and he must make choice.
What is it to be on the Lords side
It is a natural inheritance from GU
SHINING first parents that we will eithe
be Indifferent to Gods commands O
we will positively refuse to obe,
them. Fundamentally, the issue is til
same. In the case before us, the Wor
shipper of the golden calf either COZ
tinued his dancing and worship, Q
just endeavored to be neutral. 4 ma
must "come across - he must take
positive stand. The position of a net
tral is the position of the enemy G
God. There are no neutrals in Ou
country now as to Germany. Political
ly we were neutral until the presider
said that q state of war existed, br
now the neutral is pro-German. W
must be out and out for the Unite
States of America. A mans religion
obligations could be illustrated by tai
ing the two sides of an imaginary lin
and to an imaginary line there can
the other. We must be positivel
clearly, professionally on Gods sid
or we are against him. In the day
which we are living the ideals and M
tives are to be more sharply define
than in former days.
An eloquent man said very recent
that heretofore men were living
make money, and now they are dyi1
to preserve righteousness, a treme
dous reversal of form. Precisely
of a mans actions; if their charact
is to be determined by whether th'
are right in the sight of God rath
than whether they have been persc
ally or socially beneficial, man will
rive at the realization of the purpo
of God and at the realization OF j
own greatest happiness.