1 Timothy 4:12
(May 2, 2008)
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Introduction
Good evening, everyone. A university campus, particularly one like Olivet Nazarene University, is a vibrant and energetic place to live, work, and study. You never quite know what to expect with college students. They are very creative, caring, funny, and sometimes inordinately clever.
Last December, Jill and I attended the all-school Christmas party and later stopped by Lynda and Brian Allen’s house for a few minutes. While we were there, their son, Kyle, who is a student here at ONU, dropped in with some of his college friends. Jill and I greeted the students as they made their way to the basement (by way of the kitchen!).
When we got home later that night, Jill went upstairs to get ready for bed. As she did so, I told her, “I’m going to stay down here to study for a little bit.” About a half hour later, just as I was wrapping up my reading, I got a text message on my phone from Jill. It said, “How ya doin’, Tiger?”
I hit reply and typed, “I’ll be right up.”
As I walked upstairs, I said, “Hey, I got your message.”
She said, “What message?”
“Your text message.”
“I didn’t send you a message,” she said. “In fact, I left my phone at the Allens’.”
Then it hit me, the message on my phone, “How ya doin’, Tiger?” was really from those students pretending to be Jill, and I had just replied, “I’ll be right up.” In a few moments, I got another message. This time it was a picture of those kids smiling and waving to me from in front of the Allens’ Christmas tree. One never knows what to expect from university students!
But in addition to being a place of great fun, Olivet is also home to some of the most serious work in the world. Olivet does not exist to simply provide a sequential set of courses whereby, given enough time, students “accumulate” an education and then off they go, simply to be replaced by a group of new students in the fall. No!
Our mission transcends the normal work of a university. In fact, our mission is really not about education per se, as defined narrowly. Certainly education is important and valuable and valued here at Olivet, as it ought to be. But we believe that higher education should have a higher purpose.
The business of Olivet is transformation, which certainly includes education, but there is more. We seek to change lives—not through indoctrination—but through the carefully considered integration of education, faith, and living. Our goal is to equip young men and women with the tools of mind and heart they will need to be the people God is calling them to be.
Therefore, I feel particularly privileged tonight, as president of the university, to have one last opportunity to address those of you who are graduating. The first time I saw you as a group was on the Sunday evening just before classes began in the late summer of 2004. That evening, you invaded our backyard for a picnic. At first, you were tentative, and a little overwhelmed, perhaps, at really being here on your own with all of the rigors and uncertainties of college life about to get underway.
The following evening we gathered in Chalfant Hall for the annual freshman dinner. We sat at tables of ten each and began getting acquainted, and I spoke to you that night for the first time as a class. At the end of those remarks, I shared with you a verse of scripture and promised to use that verse for the baccalaureate message in the spring of 2008—and suddenly—here we are.
Do you remember the verse? I am sure you do, but for the guests who are here this evening, let me just mention it once more. The verse is 1 Timothy 4:12: “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.” From that verse, I want to talk with you tonight about this idea of setting an example. This is a call to live a good life, a godly life—a life lived for Jesus.
Tomorrow you will leave this campus, but you will also take the campus with you as you go. The lessons learned here will continue to shape your life in the days to come. I am particularly hopeful that the spiritual tone and admonitions of your college years will also bear fruit in your daily life as you seek to live “the good life.” My hope is that your life and your work will be characterized by a commitment to live for Jesus and thus set an example, as the Bible says, “in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.”
The title of my message is “Living the Good Life.” Rather than presenting a series of “oughts,” “shoulds,” and “therefores,” I have chosen to simply tell you a few stories that will hopefully amplify and illustrate the truth of this verse from 1 Timothy. But before I tell you the stories, I do have a question. How do you define the word “good”?
My subject is living the good life, so it is important to understand the word “good.” It is a word we use often. We talk about good food, good weather, good friends. We say, “Have a good day” or “She did a good job.”
When I was a kid, my folks would say to me as I was leaving the house, “Now have fun and be good.” You probably heard the same thing. There may have been moments when some of you wondered, “How can I have fun and be good at the same time?”
“Good” is a good word. It is a multifaceted word. A common dictionary will give you well over a dozen uses and definitions. The Bible speaks of good or goodness 619 times. The question before us tonight is this: “What is the good life?”
For some people the “good life” means “looking good.” In America, looking good is serious business. Tanning, Botox, cosmetic surgery, along with fashion and hair-care products, amount to a multibillion-dollar sector of the economy—all to just look good.
Others think the “good life” means “feeling good.” Whatever it takes to feel good, they will do it. This is the pursuit of pleasure. Still other people think the “good life” means “having goods.” They set about acquiring things: the right car, the right house, the right toys—surely all of this will add up to the good life.
The Bible, however, presents a radically different picture of the good life. It does not consist of looking good, feeling good, or having the goods. The Bible calls us to be good and do good. Now the fascinating thing, of course, is that when a person’s life consists of being and doing good, the other things we long for have a way of finding their proper perspective as well.
But there is a serious problem with this call to be good and do good. It is not our nature to be good. We are born with an inclination to selfishness and to sin. I wish it were true that people are born good, but neither the Scriptures nor history nor personal experience supports that claim. Certainly we have some good within us, but we are born with a sinful nature and we must have the grace of God to give us new life—the good life.
It is by the grace of God that we can become good and then be good. He imparts goodness to us so that we can live the good life and in so doing set an example for others. Now here are the stories:
Story Number One
Warren Christopher, former secretary of state, tells the story of driving down a two-lane highway one night at about 60 miles an hour. As he came around a bend in the road, he encountered an oncoming car traveling at approximately the same speed, which meant they were going to pass each other at 120 miles an hour.
Just as the automobiles met, Christopher says he happened to catch the eye of the other driver for just a brief second and, “I wondered in that instant if he was thinking, as I was, how dependent we were on each other at that moment. I was relying on him not to fall asleep, not to be distracted by a cell phone conversation, not to cross that narrow center line into my lane and bring my life suddenly to an end. And though we had never spoken a word to one another, he relied on me in just the same way.”1 Multiplied a million times over, that is the way the world works. At some level or another we all depend on each other. Sometimes it requires us to refrain from doing something such as crossing over a double yellow line. At other times it requires us to act cooperatively and proactively with friends or even strangers. Our lives are intertwined.
I have also come to believe that there are many moments in life when we must rely on the good faith and judgment of others. While each of us may face, at one time or another, the prospect of driving alone down a dark road, may we learn from experience that the approaching light might not be a threat but a shared moment of trust.
My point is this: we are interrelated and so we have the sacred obligation and opportunity to be good and do good, not just for ourselves but for others as well. We are called by the
Lord Jesus to be light in a dark world. And in this brief passage from 1 Timothy, the apostle Paul says that we are to live in such a way as to set an example.
The context of the verse is particularly meaningful to young people. The passage says, “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.” That is my message to you as you set sail from Olivet. Live an exemplary life. The world is filled with ordinary, self-centered lives. But you are called to “set an example.” We do that by living our lives for Jesus.
Story Number Two
When Dr. Shirlee McGuire joined the Olivet faculty in January 1979, she arrived in the midst of a huge snowstorm that, in fact, put Chicago’s mayor at the time, Michael Bilandic, out of office later that year. She didn’t see the ground for three months. However, Dr. McGuire knew there was ground somewhere under all that snow, because she had visited Olivet for an interview the previous spring.
That springtime visit in 1978 was her introduction to Olivet and the Church of the Nazarene. On the morning of her interview with Gary Streit, who was then the acting chairman of the Department of English, Dr. McGuire ate breakfast at Ludwig Center and then headed for her 9:00 a.m. interview on the fourth floor of Burke Administration Building. Dr. Streit had told her that Burke was “a large white limestone building. You can’t miss it.”
Dr. McGuire headed toward Burke, crossing the plaza between Ludwig Center and Benner Library. To the left of the library she saw a large white, four-story limestone building. “This must be Burke Administration,” Dr. McGuire thought. She climbed a short flight of stairs and stepped into the small lobby. “This looks like a dormitory,” she thought. Stepping into the first-floor hallway she said to herself, “This also smells like a dormitory.”
Going just a little farther, Dr. McGuire thought, “Well, perhaps the administration offices and dorm rooms are in the same building. Maybe Nazarenes don’t have much money.” Seeing no elevator, she made her way up the stairs to the fourth floor but still could not find the dean’s office. As she turned again to the stairway, a young man emerged from a room carrying an armload of books. He seemed startled to see her.
“Are you looking for someone?” he asked.
Dr. McGuire explained that she was looking for the office of the chair of the English department. “Oh,” the young man said, smiling broadly. “This is a men’s dorm. This is Chapman Hall. You need to be in Burke Administration Building. Go in the front door and then take the elevator to the fourth floor.” So started Dr. Shirlee McGuire’s first day at Olivet Nazarene University, which was almost thirty years ago. Dr. McGuire is retiring this year. This is her final commencement weekend as a faculty member here.
I tell you her story because across the years she has been a mentor as well as a teacher. All of our faculty members provide examples as well as lectures. Their examples touch thousands of lives and often speak more forcefully than the fine lessons they present in class. Dr. McGuire, Dr. Bob Wright, and Dr. Robert Branson are all retiring this year. I commend them and the entire Olivet faculty. This weekend signals a significant accomplishment on their part.
While Dr. McGuire is at one end of her professional life, you, as graduates, are at the other. As you set out to make a living, I challenge you to also set an example as you go. Focus on being—not just doing. Point others to Jesus by the life you live.
The truth is, everyone sets some kind of example every day.
Story Number Three
Late one afternoon, a woman was being tailgated by a stressed-out driver on a busy boulevard. The man driving the car behind her was having a tough day and just wanted to get home. As the woman’s car approached an intersection, the traffic light just in front of her turned yellow and she quickly applied the brakes. She could have easily and safely made it through the intersection by accelerating rather than braking, and the fellow following her could, perhaps, have made it as well. But rather than taking a risk, the woman stopped.
The tailgating man was furious. He began to honk the horn and wave in frustration using a particular hand gesture, all because he had missed a chance to get quickly through the intersection. The woman in the car in front of him waved to say, “I’m sorry.” But he refused to relent. He started once more to honk the horn and yell out the window and wave the wave.
Just then, as he was in mid-rant, he heard a tap on the side of the car and looked up into the face of a very serious police officer. “Please step out of the car, sir.” After inspecting the car, the officer proceeded to take the man to the police station where he was searched, fingerprinted, photographed, and placed in a holding cell. After nearly an hour, a guard approached the cell and opened the door. The man was escorted back to the booking desk, where the arresting officer was waiting.
The officer said, “I’m very sorry for this mistake, sir. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn and cussing a blue streak at the woman just in front of you. When I noticed the ‘What Would Jesus Do’ bumper sticker, the ‘Choose Life’ license plate holder, the ‘Follow Me to Sunday School’ sign in the back window, and the chromeplated Christian fish emblem on the trunk, I assumed from your behavior that you had stolen the car … but I was wrong and you are free to go.”
“Set an example,” Paul says. One thing I have learned about discipleship is that little things count; our small private decisions for good or evil shape us into the men and women we become. To make a difference in public, we must be faithful in private. Your spiritual accountability, even in the very small things of life, matters tremendously.
Sow a thought, reap an act.
Sow an act, reap a habit.
Sow a habit, reap a character.
Sow a character, reap a destiny.2
The verse before us this evening from 1 Timothy says that we are called to be an example “in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.” Notice that there are five elements here: speech, life, love, faith, and purity. The first two are outwardly directed—speech and life (or conduct). Your outer life is to be exemplary. The last two are inwardly directed—faith and purity. The inner life and the outer life are held together and made one by love, which stands in the middle of the list.
I think of Paul’s words in Ephesians 5:1-4, 8-10: Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving…. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light … and find out what pleases the Lord.
Conclusion
I conclude with one final story. It is your story and it has not yet been written. Your story began at home and has continued here at Olivet, but in a way all of that was just preparation, because most of your life is still in front of you. That’s why this weekend is called commencement. It is a beginning, and only you can finish the story.
You have come now to the end of your undergraduate college career. You have grown academically, you have matured personally, you have developed socially with strong social skills and some great lifelong relationships, you have gained leadership experience and skill, and you have developed spiritually. You are well equipped for the next chapter in your life.
Tomorrow as you step across the line that separates your past from your future, I hope you will do so with a deep, abiding desire to live the good life, God’s good life—a life where you “set an example … in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity”—a life lived for Jesus (1 Tim. 4:12).
The hymn writer put it like this:
Living for Jesus a life that is true,
Striving to please Him in all that I do,
Yielding allegiance, glad-hearted and free,
This is the pathway of blessing for me.
O Jesus, Lord and Saviour, I give myself to Thee;
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
I own no other Master; My heart shall be Thy throne.
My life I give, henceforth to live, O Christ for Thee alone.3
If you will live your life for Jesus, not only will you be blessed, but others will also be blessed by your example. Live the good life—live for Jesus.
Presidential Charge to the Class of 2008
I would like for the graduating class of 2008 to please stand.
There is a scene near the end of the Disney film Pirates of the Caribbean in which the young swashbuckling captain says to his crew, “Gentlemen, bring me the horizon!” and off they go with the wind catching their sails, the ocean spray in their faces, and the sun in their eyes. I like the imagery of that moment; it suggests movement, direction, progress, teamwork, and adventure.
As you graduate from Olivet Nazarene University, you have before you a bright horizon filled with great promise and possibility. I hope you will seize this moment with faith and confidence. Live the good life. How? By committing your way fully to the Lord.
Let Christ be the center of your life. Live each day to the glory of God. “Seek first his kingdom” (Matt. 6:33). Seek his will and your life will be blessed.
I congratulate each of you on this milestone in your life. You are a blessed generation and I wish you the very best. God has given you, the graduating class of 2008, the chance to build a new world. May God be with you all in Jesus’ name.
And please remember, as graduates of Olivet and as children of God, you are called to be an example for others, “in life, in love, in faith and in purity” (1 Tim. 4:12).
Prayer
O God of life’s endings and beginnings, we give you thanks for these young men and women. We ask that through your grace none would be lost to the kingdom. Bless them tonight and tomorrow and in all the days to come. Lead them in paths of righteousness for your name’s sake. Give them inner strength. Hold them steady in the grip of your grace, and may they bear the marks of a transformed life. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.