Mark 10:22

CIVILISATION AND WORSHIP

‘He was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.’

Mark 10:22

The present time is the richest of times, the heir of all the ages, the fullest of honours. This age, like the young ruler, has great possessions. Like the young ruler, too, this age keeps the great commandments; never was there less crime and never more goodwill. And, like him, having great possessions and keeping the great commandments, the age is unresting while it goes about asking new teachers what to do to inherit eternal life. The people of to-day are richer, kinder, more moral, more human; they are better than their fathers, but they show a fretful eagerness for change and a sensitiveness to criticism; they have not the peace of God, and they do not worship. Let, then, civilisation and worship be our subject, and let us consider: (1) Disappointment in civilisation, and (2) satisfaction in worship.

I. Disappointment in civilisation.—Civilisation is good; it is good that the poor man’s pain under operations should be soothed by chloroform, that he should eat as daily food the fruit of the tropics, and feel through his daily paper the impulse of the news of the world. It is good that common life should be fuller, richer, and happier. It is good to have possessions, but every good gained is but a step from which to see greater good. People know enough and have enough to be conscious of shortcoming. Hence their terror of solitude; hence their anxiety for excitement; hence the warlike temper and love of ostentation. Man, conscious of his being, is conscious also of capacity of fuller being. The modern, man wanders through his business and his pleasure, through lecture-rooms and churches, asking, What can I do to inherit eternal life?—to enjoy, that is, fullness of being. The greater the civilisation, the greater the disappointment.

II. Satisfaction in worship.—Man by his nature is unsatisfied with his own being. He measures himself with something higher. Men, therefore, from the dawn of history have tried to unite themselves with the Higher than themselves, which we call God. The means used to bring about this union is worship.

(a) The one thing necessary in worship, which is, in fact, the pursuit of the Highest we know, is the one thing necessary in all successful pursuit. There must be singleness of mind. The first condition of worship is not poverty, but a mind freed from the cares of wealth, and a single eye with which to see what is higher than the world’s highest. The pure—i.e. the single in heart—see God.

(b) Our object of worship must be near ourselves, and yet fill all ages. St. Paul found such an object in Christ. St. Paul found Christ near himself, and yet filling all things past and future; so that no longer living, but Christ living in him, he felt that nothing in heaven or earth, neither poverty nor riches, could separate him from God. St. Paul worshipped Christ and was satisfied.

Canon S. A. Barnett.

Illustration

‘Have you not moments when you hear a voice calling you to leave the traffic of business and pleasure so as to devote yourselves to the service of others’ needs? Have you not moments of insight in which you will to do great tasks? Do you not sometimes see yourself enduring sorrow and giving rest to the weary and heavy-laden? Have you not a sub-conscious self which is your better self, and which is in touch with a power which urges you, pricks you, draws you to be good and generous? Yes; there is no one, not the lowest, not the most wicked, who in himself has not this touch with the Most High. Further, do we not see standing, as it were, behind this power within ourselves the form of Jesus Christ? Does not His life represent the highest life we know? Does not heaven open and show us that He, Who is faithful and true, has guided mankind through wars and judgments to make man more faithful and true? Do we not see that the love which is in Jesus is the love of the King of kings and Lord of lords? The Christ which is in every man is also the Christ who fills all things and judges all men. We know Him in ourselves, and we know the wonders He has done in our fathers’ days.’