The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1956-09-06
One Man Looks
AT God
by Charles w. Carlson, Pastor,
St. Marks Evangelical Lutheran
Church, Oakland MarylandD

In continuing this series on the
articles of the Apostles Greed, l
will consider this week the first
statement of the second article of
the creed: ~ believe in Jesus
Christ, His only Son. our Lord"
There have been countless vol
umes written on the event in histo-
ry through which God revealed
Himself in the Person of His Son.
1t would take me years to get
through any series of articles that
would treat this first statement
of the creed in way which would
be in any way complete Therefore,
will boil down" what l feel are
the highlights of this first state
ment of the second article of the
creed
In the first place, | want to re-
mind you of previous article
which | wrote about original sin, -
| that first time when man saw fit
to follow his own ideas rather than
the commands of God AS you per-
haps recall, | made the statement
that when God created man He
created man in His image, to be
His child Then man, as is clearly
indicated by the divinely inspired
story of the Garden of Eden, saw
fit to distort this image by refusing
Gods direction of His life. This
might well be the complete story
of mans history, because in the be-
ginning man chose to eat a piece
of fruit rather than follow the adj
vice of God and today man chooses
to fight with his fellow man lie.
j the Suez situation and others like
it. or chooses to discriminate
against his neighbor. as in Clinton,
Tennessee situation Any way you
look at it, the basic sin of man is
his unWillingness to follow the Law
Of God in his life
At any rate, God attempted to
bring his children back to Him
over a period Of centuries by estab-
fishing a covenant with Abraham,
| by His direct revelation through
the mouths of the prophets. and in
many other ways, but man insisted
I on following his own way How and
why Christ came is beautifully il
| Illustrated by one of His last para
bles, spoken near the end of His
/ life. and recorded in the 20th chap
ter of Luke, the 21st chapter of
Matthew and the 18Th chapter Of
Mark. 1t is the parable OF the vine
yard, where He tells of a man who
bought a vineyard, then moved to
another country and let it out to
tenants. When time came to re-
ceive his share of the fruits, he
sent first one servant. then another,
and another, but the tenants beat
them all and sent them away with
out any fruit. Then he sent his son,
hoping that they would at least
treat him respectfully but they
killed the son, hoping that they
would eventually get the property
| for themselves. since there would
not be anyone who could inherit
it, since the son was dead But they
were mistaken, because the owner
came back and put these men to
death and gave the vineyard to
others. Christ came to bring back
the children to God but His own
people would still not believe in
Him. Gods chosen race, the Jews,
put Him to death, refusing to be-
| lieve in Him. But now those who
refused to follow Him have seen
the vineyard" go into other
peoples hands.
Christ came into the world as
the Son of God to give to mankind
! the most full revelation that man
could possibly understand. Christ
came to the world to show men
that love (which passes human
understanding Some men from
the beginning chose to follow him
The Kingdom of God on earth has
continued to grow, in spite of the
weaknesses of the men who are in
charge of this kingdom on earth,
the leaders of our churches. 1t has
indeed grown like Christ said it
would in His famous Parable of
the Mustard Seed"