Dr. Samuel DeWitt Proctor - The Cosmic Intervention Of God

i'm very grateful indeed for this privilege of worshiping here with you again in this marvelous chapel and especially grateful to be associated in the service today with rev nancy for a clock and mr gallagher along with the choir and these this wonderful organists and dr hickman and all of the soloists who render such beautiful music for us this is a high moment and i do not take it for granted the honor of proclaiming the gospel of the son of god here is a very high one indeed in fact i have enjoyed my few months at duke immensely and especially have i enjoyed my relationship with dean campbell and the divinity school and dr willman over here and bill turner uh my colleague in the divinity school as a matter of fact when i keep getting lost on these various chapel hill roads and streets and boulevards and so forth in durham i wonder if this would not be a good time to propose that we change the names of some of these and recognize the service of some of our colleagues it looks now like the only reason for being in durham is to find your way to chapel hill all of the and during this basketball season may be the best time to suggest a change i thought it might be a very good thing to leave chapel hill boulevard like it is and then change chapel hill road to turner avenue and chapel hill street to campbell street and then old chapel hill road to willaman road when he comes back you tell him that i've made that proposal to the city fathers and mothers now it's very hard to make a methodist out of an old old baptist i'm baptist born and baptist bred and when i'm gone it'll be a baptist dead but the problem is that this chapel staff is so efficient you know they write to you nine months ahead of time and ask you for a subject you know nine months hence and that's because they're following the lectionary that the methodists follow and and they know what ought to be preached about on that son this doesn't bother them at all but we baptists are accustomed to more spontaneity than that in fact that's the trademark of our religion spontaneity and when i looked and saw what i had promised to preach about i struggled terribly to uh to deal with that subject but it seemed more and more like one i had done for christmas so i begged now to change the subject because when i was reading for lent i ran across the name of joanna and i could not get her off my mind in the eighth chapter of luke we have a reference to joanna the wife of kuza herod's steward and then way over on easter sunday morning we find these women coming to the sepulcher to anoint the body of jesus mary magdalene and several others and then in that list there was joanna again there's nothing in between him and ever since i saw this i have been trying to think of the life of joanna this hidden disciple and how she must have made a great sacrifice to do what it was that she had to do now let's get acquainted with joanna this hidden disciple and how she did what she had to do every few months or so we find another popular expression being used an expression that somehow everyone seems to understand my wife and i have to keep up with these because we have four sons and they're 13 years between son number two and son number three so we've had deja vu we've just been raising boys for an entire lifetime and uh you know god moves in very mysterious ways but it does mean that we've had to keep up with these colloquialisms it's amazing how these sayings get started a little while ago they started using the word chill chill so what does that mean chill well it means super cool daddy it means it is highly approved chill then i kept seeing these bumper stickers just do it i kept trying to figure out what was that referring to and i couldn't find out but all i know is that it sounds reckless to me it sounds like paying no attention to consequences and ignoring penalties just do it so i don't like the sound of that one and i have dropped that one quickly but there's another expression in vogue now that is our subject today in connection with joanna the hidden disciple and this expression calls us to face up to whatever it is that stands in our way it says just do what you've got to do and it covers a wide range of situations it means if you have to stay up late at night finishing an assignment just do what you've got to do if it means breaking a habit that's killing you slowly just do what you've got to do giving up some food that is against your health or cutting off a friendship that is just too negative do what you've got to do if it means tearing up a credit card then do what you've got to do getting up earlier for work taking an extra job to meet your budget's demands spending a weekend in hibernation to finish a term paper this came to me as i thought of joanna and i thought of it during lent and the task of discipleship in our time and this is a very inspiring personality we find hidden here in the gospel of luke we find her first in luke the eighth chapter verse three and she really faced a tough situation she went on and did what she had to do much of what we know about joanna we have to piece together from these tiny fragments that we find in the gospels and this is what we find joanna was married to a big man a man named kusa who was the chief steward in herod's palace herod was the king who ruled over jesus people a puppet king not popular at all and he served under the roman emperor a kind of a convenient politician and joanna was married to kuza herod's chief steward the one in charge of the palace somehow joanna heard about jesus and evidently she had some kind of an ailment that caused her to go to look for jesus and when she found him she was among several people who were healed by jesus we are not told what her ailment was but whatever it was she was relieved of it and there began her relationship with the master and in her gratitude to jesus for her new life that she had found she made a decision to follow him and she had to go and tell her husband kusa inherits palace that she was going to follow jesus some people it appears are really prepared to be serious about their discipleship and joanna became one of a small group of women whom jesus had befriended and had healed and women who saw to it that jesus and his disciples had food and water and shelter and safe places to rest the bible says that they ministered unto the disciples out of their substance as we remember what the position of a woman was in the roman social hierarch of the first century it took an awful lot for joanna to go and tell her husband who worked for the king that she had found a new life for herself and anyone who knows how the roman powers looked down on the jews in jesus day would know that it took some nerve for joanna to tell her husband that she felt that she had to leave to make an adjustment to depart from the palace circle and follow the master and yet this is just what she did read luke 8 verses 2 and 3 and certain women which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities mary called magdalena out of who meant seven devils and joanna the wife of cruiser herod stewart and susanna and many others which ministered unto him of their substance can you imagine herod's top steward having a wife who would be a follower of jesus of galilee but joanna did what she had to do and if you have discovered that jesus has become the new center of your life you may feel what joanna felt and feel that you have to do now whatever it is you have to do to live up to your discipleship and the lenten season is the time for this self-examination this must have been a serious problem for everyone involved herod did not want to hear anything about a jesus follower that close to him in his palace kusa was his servant the chief servant and you know that cousin did not want to have to tell herod that his wife had decided that she had a new life following this galilean herod was a servant of the emperor and the emperor regarded jesus as a public nuisance none of this was working out joanna had a problem herself caring about her husband changing her status and all of that and then finding out that it was more important for her to follow jesus than to do anything else in the social group around the palace so joanna did what joanna had to do and as i think of how our own relationship to christ is always under examination and especially in this lenten season i'm helped greatly by studying the life of joanna even from these fragments because so much is implied with these brief references to her some of the questions that arise are for example what was it that made her take such a risk as this and what made her stay with her choice to the very end because you see joanna did not start out and then quit three years later at the sepulcher they tell us about these women who came with spices and ointments to anoint the body of jesus and when they called off the list of those who came the first ones at the tomb the ones who made the first announcement that he was not there among that group was johanna the wife of kusa herod's steward a hidden disciple of jesus well i have an idea what brings this on from my own experience and from the experience of other christians that i have known and jesus she found a new priority for her life something to put first in her life and she had not found that in that temple crowd in that palace crowd when she met jesus she compared him no doubt with the crowd that she had seen in that circle around herod and she chose jesus her husband was in charge of herod's palace he hired all of the help ordered the repairs bought the food arranged the banquets controlled the traffic in and out and this type of a job attracts a certain kind of a following the political opportunists like people like kuza the influenced peddlers the hustlers those who like to turn deals and like to claim to be insiders generally these are people with flabby consciences and who do not think of anything but their own advancement these are the people that she might have seen around herod's palace and then when joanna met somebody else like jesus a person of stature and moral substance she found another kind of a human being altogether one who focused on a life of integrity if thine i be single thy whole body shall be full of light a life that is giving he who would seek to save his own life will lose it he who loses his life for my sake shall find it a life in tune with god seek ye first the kingdom of god another kind of a person all together we don't meet but one or two of these kinds of persons in a whole lifetime persons who cause us to reshuffle our priorities and say these things i've been paying close attention to do not matter at all and the things i put way down the end of the list are the most important things after all she noticed how jesus had compassion for those who were hurt and lonely and how he could have a vicarious approach to their lives and stand where they stood and see the world through their eyes she noticed all of that she noticed how jesus could rise above tribe and race and clan and gender and put aside trivial notions of class and rank she noticed how he had no difficulty at all including her the wife of kuza in his circle top aide to the king so she put jesus at the top and put the palace gang at the bottom and when she made the comparison it caused her to look at her own life and she began to shuffle her priorities she decided to give up on some of those activities that the palace people had called important and go out and join those who were helping the master there was a committee out there with mary magdalene in charge and these women became the back up crew for the master he lived a normal life and needed help he needed food he needed laundry done he needed some place to rest and meet with his disciples and no doubt they were helpful to him and joanna put down the high society crowd around herod's palace and put something else in his place helping the master with his teaching and preaching and healing ministry and all of us need to review our priorities every now and then just the other day i had a priority question i was up early i had a reading project i had a paper that was due to a publisher and the deadline was fast approaching i didn't want to be embarrassed and i didn't want to stay up all night but my wife told me that one of our friends had passed away and that she had attended the funeral and that she learned that the past of the church would be out of town and could not go to the internment at the cemetery and i said oh that's terrible that she may be buried without a song without a prayer without a scripture lesson imagine 45 years in a church 82 years old then you die and a gravedigger eases you into your grave unceremoniously i put down my paper do you know i had no trouble at all like a computer my priorities began to shovel around and something said sam stay up all night tonight and do your paper but put on your black shoes in your dark suit and get that striped tie on and get out of here and go to that cemetery and be standing there in the ice and the mud and the snow wait for that procession no matter how long it takes to get there and you guarantee to god that this child will not be put away like that now you know it didn't make a lot of difference with the almighty what i mumble over her when she was being buried that's not the point the point was what was going on inside of me once again i had some real contact with the notion that the mind of christ when it's with you will guide you every day in the smallest corners of your existence that's what joanna found out she had no trouble at all putting her priorities in a new listing see some people have great difficulty with this somebody thought it was a priority to break the leg of an olympic skater to knock her out of competition now you know those priorities were way out of life how can you break the leg of an olympic skater world renowned without getting caught someone thought it was a priority to kill dozens of muslims at prayer in their mosque in hebron what a ghastly thing to do some thought it was a priority to blow up the trade center no matter who's in there children physicians nurses whoever paraplegics it didn't matter blow it up in the 16th 17th and 18th centuries some people thought it was a priority to make money kidnapping slaves and selling them as animals denying them education and branding them as inferior beings and making it all come out even some people have a strange way of establishing priorities and trying to get away with it but what joanna found out was that her loyalty to christ caused her to reorder her priorities and then more than that she did not start out and then stop many people find these religious stats to be enticing and some of them change religions every time you turn around like changing hairstyles you know look on the television and see somebody else who looks alluring and there goes their religion they're gone again and they're always writing a letter to the pastor i've decided to change my faith again joanna went out and found jesus and she stayed with it she found a new purpose for her life it is not just a fad in luke 8 we find her with these women starting out but in luke 24 she's still there still there after the arrest in gethsemane after the mock trial in pilate's court after the crucifixion here we are at the tomb on easter morning and look who comes and brings spices and ointments to anoint the body of jesus and who do you think were the first persons to discover that the tomb was empty mary magdalene mayor of the mother james and joanna joanna did what she had to do she had a sense of priorities and a sense of purpose we find this out in the strangest ways this life you know it's not a rehearsal this is the real thing what a blessing it is to find a purpose for living and make it count and this is what jesus does for us i remember how my father would not shave in the morning when he went to work he drove a truck in the navy yard he never missed a day in some 40-yard years and president truman gave him a great big plaque for driving his truck and not driving it overboard down there unfortunately we were so proud of daddy he was like clockwork he would come home at the same moment every day the dog knew when daddy was about to turn the corner somebody would say hey did you get your work done why dad is on the way how do you know look at rex rex was standing there with his ears stuck up his tail straight up in there watching that corner to see when my dad would pop around the corner dad would go to work in the morning with that salt and pepper beard on his face daddy why don't you shave well i'll save when i get back home this evening why didn't he shave it was because the job in the navy yard was not his purpose in life the job in the navy yard was simply a means of feeding his family paying his dues and getting by daddy's life began at five o'clock when he was the real herbert proctor practicing his violin for the sunday school orchestra studying his sunday school lesson for the teachers meeting on friday night rehearsing his masonic lectures for the initiations coming up that was dada's real life all day long they called him boy george come here whatever but he wore that beard as if to disguise the fact that i'm not the person you think i am i'm somebody else entirely and watch me when i get home at five o'clock he'd come in the house and give my mama a big hug and then head straight upstairs and heat that water in that old gas hot water heater and then he'd hear him up there running the water he'd be shaving he'd come downstairs the real herbert proctor to live out his real life so even though we are thwarted sometimes and we have to defer what our real purposes are if they are real and they belong to us we will claim them and they will guide us until the very end left the palace and stayed with it for a lifetime now finally this is a power question isn't it oh many of us could do what joanna did and during lent we may think about what we've got to change but it's a power question where does the strength come from well just as jesus gives us our priorities and just as jesus leads us to our purpose jesus leads us into relationship with god the inexhaustible power of the living god that's available that's available to us i remember when i was in college my first two years i was a music major i had no talent for music i was just in school i won a scholarship playing schubert serenade on a clarinet and a contest and i got the scholarship and but i didn't want to be a music major but i didn't want to be in college very much so great depression was going on no money was anywhere and today i was reminded of it standing here with the tennis singers you know it's embarrassing standing beside these fellas trying to sing you know and all they do is open their bars and the round sweet notes just flow right out and there i'm struggling trying to read the words and the notes you know i had no talent for that and when i heard billy taylor play the piano i knew that god was calling me to do something else in life altogether well after two years as a music major and after being called to preach i went to a baptist college and you know what the dean did he resented the fact that i had gone to a state college first what did you go to that school for that music scholarship why didn't you come here first because they gave me the scholarship and you didn't you know what he did to me in the name of jesus that man took from me three semesters of credits i'll never forget him as long as i live and i have to pray over it because it stirs up anger in me as hard as i work scuffling to get those two years in college he turned around and took three semesters from me when i'm at the chapel you know they sit according to your you know grade level there was a junior sitting up there with the entering freshmen and all the boys from norfolk were laughing at me look at him he must be dumb as long as he's been in college he's still a freshman it hurt me so i went up to my room and i just had a little talk with the lord and i said i'm gonna show that man that i can graduate from this place in two years even though i've got three and a half years of work to do and i stand in this chapel to say to you my dear friends i did three and a half years of work in two years graduated with academic honors for high scholarship my dad didn't have a dime to give me i worked every step of the way for every bit of my bill how i did it i don't know i lost 40 pounds i lived on three or four hours sleep at night but i wanted to be a minister i wanted to get into the seminary and i did not want anybody to take joy in creating an impediment for me and the power came from somewhere the power came how i could drag myself out of the bed day after day put the food in the dining room rake the leaves on the campus drive the car for the president i was just a machine but the power came i knew that i was not working for naught i had a purpose and a priority and when these things are aligned we are more than flesh and blood we are more than amino acids we are spiritual beings and god provides what we need oh they that wait upon the lord do indeed renew their strength they rise up with wings as eagles they run without getting weary and they walk without fainting may god bless you all

Channel: Inspiration Station

Views: 2,551

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: samuel d proctor, lawrence carter, jeremiah wright, otis moss jr, otis moss iii, rev frank thomas, marcus cosby, hampton ministers conference, william curtis, terry anderson, bishop college, ralph d west, Frederick d haynes, black preaching tradition, jamal bryant, seminary, cosmos, cosmic god, theology, theological, harvard divinity school, princeton seminary, virginia union

Id: 64dmakjBPsE

Length: 28min 26sec (1706 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 16 2020